Category: P90x

P90x Fitness Review

P90x – Week 1, Day 1, Chest, Back, Ab Ripper X

Morning!

Well, today is the day I started P90x…and let me tell you, ‘awesome’ doesn’t begin to describe it. Why, I hear you ask? Because like other super workout DVDs, there’s lots of encouragement, lots of laughs, and lots of excellent exercises to music that, in this case, really work your muscles to failure.

The first day is Chest/Back and Ab Ripper X. Chest and back includes a lot of pushups and pullups but the good news for me and my family – we absolutely adore these kinds of exercises! ‘matter of fact, whenever we’re at karate and the senseis call ‘pushup time!’, other kids/families might groan, but me and my kids always cheer, yay!

But I digress. :-)

The thing I liked about Back and Chest is that you’re encouraged to use a chair to help support your weight during the pullups. Given the fact that by the middle, I couldn’t achieve a single pullup anymore, this was really a boon – I was able to offset my weight juuuuuust enough to inch my way towards the bar, thus ensuring I was continuing to the best of my abilities.

Chest/Back has a series of 12 exercises that are repeated in two sessions, and the second session has you perform them in different orders. Very energizing! The time really flew by. I also greatly enjoyed Tony’s commentary; he’s very motivating. One difficulty I did encounter was my weights were ‘way too light – I had brought up the 10 pound jobbers from my basement and they were woefully ineffective. I’ll bring up my 20 pounders the next time (and after I was finished, I did top off my workout by doing 3 sets of 8 biceps curls with my 35 pound dumbbells downstairs. Oooooo, a very nice burn indeed).

Ab Ripper X is a nice little 15 minute workout that includes over 336 ab movements. Each set had 25 reps – I was able to get to between 15 and 25 for each one. While I’m obviously not in top shape, I’m certainly in much better form that I would have thought, having just had surgery last month!

I completed the workout about 20 minutes ago….and my arms/shoulders/back are starting to feel the results. It’s really quite the sensation! I’m looking forward to seeing what P90x has in store for me tomorrow.

Today I also need to take my Before pictures as well. Wheeee!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – more P90X goodies!

P90x and P90x+ Forums For All Types of People

Morning,

Well! In 4 days, I will be starting P90x…and let me tell you, it will be a challenge! One I shall meet, mind you, but wow, a challenge, none-the less.

It appears I’m not the only person to start P90x on 12/31/07. For example, there’s the Bringing In The New Year Right! crowd; I’ll probably join that group. And since I’m over 40, I could also consider Over 40 and Starting P90x as well.

Here are other groups you might enjoy!

As you can see, there’s tons of support you can find for your P90x and P90x Plus adventures – why not join the forums and enjoy? I know I sure will!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – more p90X goodies!

P90x+ What’s different from P90x…Is the Plus for You?

Morning!

I’ve received several questions asking what’s the difference of P90x Plus compared to P90x.

Well, here’s what I’ve found out. We’re talking 5 different upgrades:

Interval X P90x Plus
‘Way more killer and effective than typical cardio, Interval X Plus blasts your heart rate up and down with 3 speeds: recovery, medium, and full-out, creating more dramatic change within the briefest period of time. (40 minutes)

Kenpo Cardio P90x Plus
Featuring new dynamic fat-burning moves, this advanced-level Kenpo will shred the most resistant layer of fat with the all-out self-defense workout that builds agility, stamina and balance. (40 minutes)

Upper Body P90x Plus
This King Kong upper body workout will challenge the plateau phenomenon by blasting every muscle from the hips on up: chest, back, biceps, triceps, and shoulders. Talk about a complete meshed P90X way! After this one, you won’t be able to pick up a coffee cup for at least a couple hours. (45 minutes)

Total Body P90x Plus
New synergistic moves pump your muscles, and then allow you to recuperate in stages until you’ve got nothing left but a state of total exhaustion. An unprecedented total body phenomenon. (45 minutes)

Abs/Core P90x Plus
This detailed new ab/core workout adds 4 challenging positions (hanging, sitting, standing, and plank positions) to blast your ab work and rip your midsection even faster. Is a ten-pack even possible? Wait and find out!
(20 minutes)

It sure looks pretty enticing to me! I’m still waiting for my leg recovery to complete, of course…and hopefully in 2008 will begin my own personal p90x+ journey. I’ll keep y’all posted!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – P90x makes a great holiday gift!

Perfect Pushup Review – Excellent buy

Morning,

Well! My local Sports Authority had a 25% discount off of any single item in the store…and I was lucky enough to visit there when they unloaded 15 instances of the Perfect Pushup. At only $32 (including tax!), how could I resist?

After I got this beastie home, I opened up the box. The pushup thingees have extremely smooth motion and they’re extremely easy to rotate…and let me tell you, wow, do you really feel it in your muscles! Back, shoulders, triceps, biceps – each position you use activates different muscles.

One thing I really like is because the handles are about 3 inches off the ground, you can get virtually parallel with the floor while doing your pushups. Wow! Is that a challenge! Additionally, because your wrists can rotate to different directions, no longer will you feel any typical wrist pain from indulging in pushups.

Now, I’m used to doing between 30 to 50 pushups at a clip, but with these babies, I was able to do only 13 until exhaustion. Wow! Does my form and style need work. But still, even though it’s a weeeee bit pricey, I find it definitely an excellent value indeed.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Wanna see ’em in action?

Oscillating massagers, aching thighs and acupressure, oh my!

Morning,

Well, it’s almost 1am and I cannot sleep. There is a slight (oh so slight!) possibility that I might have overdone my physical therapy a weeeeee bit (about as “weeeee” as a redwood tree) early today.

Today, all I did (really!) was unassisted chinups thru the day (I can do 3 at a shot, wheeee!), walked a mile very slowly, and did some slow glute stretches for my right leg. That’s it! But let me tell you now, all sides of my right thigh feel like they’re made of concrete with perhaps a bit of fossilized sand thrown in for good measure. I even took 2 hot baths (generally the ultimate of curealls!) to no avail.

So…I figured it was time to be gentle to myself. Back about a decade or so, my husband and I bought this rather nifty oscillating acupressure massager called a Tamiko – it features an acupressure point that you can use to really dig into your muscles. I just spent 10 minutes loosening up my legs and slathering on the tiger balm…finally the aches are starting to dissipate.

This massager is a godsend for anyone who needs to direct pressure to specific muscular areas! Alas, the company went out of business, and I haven’t been able to find one again. Wah. But wow, acupressure can really be a benefit when your exercising gets you down.

Time to build websites,

Barbara

ps – want some massagers? Consider:

2 chinups, 1 mile walk and weak thighs – oh my!

Morning,

Well, I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I can now do 2 (count ’em, two!) unassisted chinups! This is 1/2 more than my last record of 3 days ago. Yay!

My right thigh muscles are still somewhat weak from the surgery. So I’ve been spending some time stretching and today, decided to try a small walk. Instead of my beloved 2.4 mile circle walk, I simply walked one mile up and down my town’s sidewalks…and managed to complete that with no problem at all. Yay! It does look like I’m on schedule for my healing, although I will admit, I really wish I could participate in my karate and kendo again. Wah. Oh well, that will happen, some day….

In other news, I’ve come to realize that exercise becomes a “need” instead of a “have to do” after awhile. I just don’t feel right when I neglect my exercise – my body tells me, ahem, you’re stalling! Do something, anything, just get up off of your rear and make things happen.

So I did. :)

In 10 days, I will have been on my get-healthy plan for officially one year! I will certainly look forward to posting about my accomplishments – it’s been a great ride that will continue in 2008.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – want a pedometer?

New P90X+ – P90X Plus, coming out soon!

Morning,

Well! Wouldn’t you just know – after finally getting my P90x a few days ago, I hear the latest and greatest will be P90X Plus, coming soon! To wit:

… With the arrival of P90X®+, many of you might be wondering how we could improve upon the “most extreme home fitness system ever.” The simple answer is, there’s always new training, new techniques, and a new way to look at things to take them (and you) to the next level. P90X is the step from fitness to extreme fitness. The Plus takes it to yet another level. Our focus was to give you more options to maximize your fitness experience. P90X+ is not trying to top the X but to enhance its efficiency for those who have reached the peak. Let’s take a brief look at the science behind P90X and why you’ll want to add X+ to your home fitness arsenal…..MORE….

Here are some more resources to help you learn about it:

And here are some great clips:



Weighted Warrior

P90X+ Fly Blasters

What is the P90x+ L chinup?

Looks pretty good so far, eh?

Enjoy!

ps – and of course, if you’re looking for P90x goodies, consider:

Protein bar recipes – lots of goodies out there!

Morning,

You know how you cannot open a forum or bbs or chat group without hearing about What Protein Bar Should I Buy?

Now, I, being the cost-conscious mom from heck, have a slightly different question. Come January, I plan on starting P90x, and there’s lots of recommendations to use protein bars for some of the food intake. And while that’s simply peachy to the extreme, I started wondering, gee, wouldn’t it be great if I could make these protein bars myself?

‘course it would! So here’s what I’ve found for you!

I don’t know which ones I’ll be trying myself, but it certainly is nice to have all of those choices!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – and if you want to buy, consider:

Amazing how the muscles need to recover after chinups

Well!

Yesterday saw me having a dandy time trying out my new chinup bar (which I’ll be using for my P90x workouts that will most likely start in Jan 2008).

I probably did at the most, oh, hmmmm, 12….spaced over 3 hours. That’s all, only 12!

And this morning, I can’t even do 1/2. So I’ve taken that wakeup call to say, okay! Time to rest the arms.

But you know, you really wouldn’t think that something soooo simple like 12 chinups over 3 hours would still leave you with effects the next day.

I think my enforced inactivity due to my surgery recovery probably has something to do with this. Ah well, these things happen…I’m sure I’ll recover completely when the time is right.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – want pullup bars?

2008 Resolutions – Kids Academics, Karate Improvement, P90x Review

Morning,

It’s getting close to that time of year again – New Year’s Resolutions!

I’m very pleased that my New Year Resolutions of last year (get healthy) have happened most swimmingly. My goal back then was 135 pounds – I’m now bouncing between 131 and 133.

This year, I have the following New Year’s Resolutions.

  • Kids Academics. I want to still keep my kids valuing strong academic performances, and helping them continue to grow. With one child going on 18 (okay, at least it seems that way with said child’s uncanny maturity), two children paralleling my own childhood personality, and one child growing faster than a 747 speeds by, it will truly be a hero’s journey to validate all of their concerns while retaining the “I’m not your friend, I’m your mom” philosophy by which I live.
  • Karate/Kendo Improvement. I am woman, hear me roar, and if I’ve learned anything from my surgery and recovery, it’s that I can do ANYTHING I choose. It might take time, it might take practice, but I WILL prevail. In this case, I want to take my karate skills to the next level and beyond, and really improve on my balance, relaxation and coordination.
  • P90x. Yes! I admit it! I succumbed to the utter delight of imagining conquering P90x and got meself a bargain from eBay! True…I’m not yet healed enough to tackle it…but soon, soon, perhaps in January I can do so. I’ve found some great resources for P90x including:

I’ll admit it – I’m pretty psyched about trying it out (when I’m totally healed, of course!). In the meanwhile, the husband installed the chinup bar in our guest room, and I’ve been having a blast doing unassisted chinups every half hour or so.

And people think I don’t have a life. Hah! :-)

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – P90x goodies include: